Central Marin police pursuit ends in crash with school bus in Mill Valley

A school bus faces the wrong way on southbound Highway 101 in Mill Valley after a collision with a fleeing suspect May 8. Corte Madera fire Battalion Chief Peter Davis, who took the photo, said it's "lucky no one was killed."

A fraud suspect who fled police in a Land Rover on Wednesday clipped one officer with a side mirror in San Anselmo, tried to hit another officer, drove on a sidewalk and hit a small shed, and then led police and deputies on a chase through Ross Valley before crashing into a school bus in Mill Valley, authorities said.

The school bus had no children on board. The bus driver was taken to Marin General Hospital with minor injuries, and the suspect was taken to the same hospital with a possible broken leg.

No major injuries were reported elsewhere along the chase route.

Police were still looking for a second suspect who ran off in San Anselmo before the pursuit began.

The two suspects are accused of trying to commit some kind of bank fraud Wednesday morning at branches in the lower Ross Valley area, said Central Marin police Chief Todd Cusimano.

Police alerted banks and law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for the suspects.

On Wednesday afternoon, an employee at the Bank of America branch in San Anselmo recognized someone matching a suspect's description and called police. When a Central Marin officer approached the bank, one suspect ran away and the other fled in a white Land Rover.

The officer was struck with the side mirror at the Land Rover took off but was not seriously injured. The suspect then drove directly at a sergeant who was arriving at the scene but did not hit him, Cusimano said.

Witnesses said the Land Rover then went up on a sidewalk, struck a small shed outside Linda's Flower Box at 305 San Anselmo Ave. and went around several cars stopped at a red light.

Andres Stinchfield, 35, who was with his daughter at U-Top It frozen yogurt shop, said the area was filled with cars and pedestrians.

"I'm extremely surprised no one got hurt," he said. "There must be a dozen, maybe 20 witnesses. ... Everyone was basically stunned, like incredulous, I can't believe what I just saw."

The Land Rover raced east on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. Central Marin police went after the Land Rover and briefly lost track of it, but then a Marin County sheriff's deputy spotted the vehicle and chased it through Kentfield and Greenbrae.

The Land Rover took the onramp to southbound Highway 101 and headed toward Corte Madera at estimated speeds of 90 to 110 mph.

Chase Wray, 17, said he was driving south on Highway 101 near the Mill Valley line when the Land Rover raced past him, weaving through traffic. Wray, a Redwood High School student, said pieces of its blown-out tire were hitting his car.

Then Wray went over the hill toward the East Blithedale Avenue exit and saw the aftermath of the collision.

"I was really scared," he said. "I was insanely scared. I didn't know what I should do."

The crash left the bus turned around the wrong way against the sound wall. Corte Madera fire Battalion Chief Peter Davis said it was "lucky no one got killed."

After the crash, the suspect was arrested at gunpoint. The suspect's name was not available.

The crash scene blocked several lanes on southbound Highway 101, causing heavy traffic delays. Firefighters from Larkspur, Southern Marin and Tiburon also responded to the crash, as well as Ross Valley paramedics.

Cusimano said the Land Rover contained suspected stolen property and might have been stolen itself.